by Unknown
“What made him change his mind?”
“The others talked him into it.”
“What? Why would they do that?” Arach looked so confused, I laughed and reached up to smooth the creases on his forehead.
“The lioness magic does something to them,” I tried to explain. “It bonds them together and makes them view each other more like brothers, men united in their love for me. More men means more protection for me, in their minds. Well, to an extent,” I grinned, thinking about the talk I'd had with Trevor.
“Lioness magic?” He frowned. “Am I immune because I'm fey?”
“I don't know actually,” I chuckled. “I think it's because you're here and don't really interact with the others. Magic always takes the easiest path. It doesn't exert itself more than it has to and it doesn't have to with you.”
“I don't know about that,” he huffed. “It might be nice to feel a little better about this.”
“Really? You'd rather be enchanted than angry?”
“What about Odin?” He evaded my question. “You said the others had to talk him into this trial period.”
“Kirill thinks that Odin lost the bond with them when he died,” I said. “He believes it should return soon though.”
“And you would have given up Toby if Odin said no?”
“Yes,” I sighed. “I've just gotten over my guilt about this and now I'm feeling awful again. I don't know what else to do except promise you that I will involve you as much as possible in the future.”
“I don't want you to feel guilty,” Arach leaned down and touched his lips to mine gently. “You can't control the nature of your magic. This is who you are and I love you, all of you. I must learn to deal with the nature of my own magic but I will accept your word to involve me more in your entire life. I'm your husband and I need to feel that you respect that, then I think I'll be more satisfied.”
“I do respect that,” I pulled him back for a more thorough kiss. “You will have a say in my life, both in and out of Faerie. I promise.”
“Good,” he sighed. “Then you will at least consult me before taking another lover.”
“Okay, dragon,” I agreed with a smile. “You'll be consulted.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
After Arach's anger had been dealt with and appeased, his dragon needed some appeasing too. I found myself involved in some very aggressive lovemaking. Not that I'm complaining. At all. What I will complain about was the interruption of our aggressive lovemaking with a poorly timed visit from Faerie.
You need to stop doing that and get dressed.
“Excuse me?” I pulled away from Arach and stared angrily at the empty air in front of me.
“What? I thought you liked it when I put my tongue there?” Arach frowned up at me.
“No, not you,” I kissed his forehead before I pulled the covers around us. “Faerie's back.”
“Now?” He groaned.
I don't have time to argue with you dragons, she growled. You're about to have a visitor and it's important, so get dressed.
“Wait,” I got out of bed and headed for the armoire. “Did you find the mystery man in the Aether? Is that who our visitor is?”
In a way.
“Which way?” I threw a pair of pants at Arach and he rolled his eyes as he caught them.
The way that I sometimes use you to become physical.
“You don't mean he's going to try and possess me?” I felt my jaw unhinge. “I've had about enough of that. There's no way in hell I'm letting some unknown dude into my head.”
That's why he's not going to possess you. He's going to possess-
“My Queen,” Isleen's voice came through the door. “Your friend is here to see you.”
“Which friend is that?” I narrowed my eyes on the door.
“Lady Aradia,” Isleen said.
“He's going to possess Aradia?” I asked Faerie.
“What's that, my Queen?”
“Nothing, Isleen,” I called. “Please let her know I'll be right down.”
“Yes, of course,” and then came the sound of Isleen's footsteps hastily retreating from my insane babble.
Yes, he's borrowing Aradia, Faerie finally confirmed.
“Crap,” I sighed. “Why's he picking on her?”
Evidently, he knows her.
“What?!”
I'm sure she will, or rather he will explain everything, she sighed. He's got a lot to tell you and he wants to do it himself.
“And you're okay with this?” I couldn't believe how well she was taking it all. “With another being like you coming into your realm?”
I will allow it this once for your sake. A pregnant pause and then, Vervain, you should listen carefully to what he has to say. It has bearing on your well being.
“Now I'm starting to get a little worried,” I exchanged an unsettled look with Arach.
He's not interested in harming you, she assured me. Quite the opposite in fact.
“Okay.”
“How much opposite?” Arach asked, surprising me. I hadn't realized Faerie was speaking to him as well.
It's not anything as base as what you're thinking, Dragon King, Faerie laughed. Beings like us are beyond such physical distractions.
“Good to know,” Arach finished buckling his belt and we headed out together. “I've had enough talk of Vervain with other men for one day.”
“Well, if it encourages another round of wild dragon sex, I'm all for it,” I winked at Arach and his annoyed expression was replaced by a smug and very lascivious one.
“Promise me you won't talk about other men and I'll promise you even better sex,” he purred.
“You're on,” I agreed, “but you should be careful what you promise. That last round will be hard to beat.”
“Not really,” he grimaced, “as long as we can actually finish next time.”
“There is that.”
He took my hand as we walked down to the throne room and I appreciated it. My stomach had begun to twist itself into knots and my skin was running with shivers. My body knew something that my brain didn't and it worried me. I glanced at Arach and grinned. His hair was wild around his shoulders, making his frown look even more menacing. It was an unusual look for him, the wild hair not the menacing bit, and I kind of liked it.
We reached the throne room, which doubled as the dining hall, and found Aradia and her father, Craigor, already seated at one of the tables. She got up and came towards us and it was a good thing she did because I had stopped walking. I just stood there, gaping at her as she came to a halt before me.
Aradia's dark looks were eclipsed by whatever it was that was inhabiting her body. She was shining, her skin softly lit from within, and her normally brown eyes were light blue. Her long hair was fluffy, as if it were filled with static electricity, and her body radiated power more than any god I'd ever seen.
“Aradia?” I whispered.
“Not exactly,” she said in a much deeper voice than normal. There was power in that voice and it ran along my skin like the flutter of wings.
“Who are you?” Arach asked, angling himself in front of me.
“Be at ease, Arach, Last and First of the Dragon Kings,” Aradia said and I felt my draw drop further. “I'm not here to harm anyone, least of all your wife.”
“Last and first?” My voice was a bare breath of sound.
“He was the last,” Aradia gave me a slight smile, “but now things will begin again because of you and he shall be the first King in a new line of dragon-sidhe. It's so good to see you in the flesh, Vervain, daughter of mortal and dragon, my Trinity Star.”
“Your Trinity Star?” Arach was getting a growl in his voice.
“Stop,” I held a hand out between them. “We're going to all sit down and you're going to tell us exactly what's going on,” I pointed to Aradia, “and exactly who you are.”
“Agreed,” she nodded and we all went to sit with Craigor, who looked a little shell shocked.
“Hey,
Craigor,” I said to him.
“Greetings, Queen Vervain,” he nodded with jerky head movements.
Craigor had always been pale but at that moment, he was really white. His blonde hair didn't help any, adding to his washed out appearance. It made his black eyes look especially stark, floating in that ghostly face. I used to think he had a cruel face, something about his mouth or perhaps those black eyes. It's funny how an inner change can also alter someone's outer appearance. He didn't look cruel to me anymore. Right then, the only thing he looked was terrified.
“You okay?” I gave him a concerned look.
“Oh yes,” he gave a little laugh. “I've only just found my daughter and now she's accepted this powerful entity into her body.”
“I won't impose on Aradia for long,” the powerful entity said.
“So she allowed this?” I looked back at Aradia.
“She did,” the thing inside Aradia confirmed. “She knows how important it is that I speak with you and how much I wanted to have this conversation face to face instead of just invading your mind.”
“Well, I appreciate the not invading part,” I huffed. “Why don't you start at the beginning? Who are you?”
“My original name has been lost to time,” she/he shrugged. “It doesn't matter anymore. I've chosen a new one and you may use it, if you like. It's Alaric.”
“Alaric,” I frowned, “like the Visigoth King who sacked Rome?”
“Precisely,” he/she laughed. “It means Ruler of All and I found that oddly appropriate.”
“Because you're the ruler of all?” I lifted a brow.
“In a way,” he smiled serenely. “I am the God of Gods, Vervain. The first god. The god of the Atlanteans.”
“The Atlanteans have no gods,” I narrowed my eyes on him.
“Do they not?” A laughing tone. “And how would you know this? I assure you, little star, they do have a god, for am I he. They worshiped me in the beginning, when they were first birthed, but after the pass of many years, they forgot me. I find it rather fitting that now many of them are forgotten by their own followers.”
“That is a nice bit of karma,” I took a deep breath and tried to relax, sliding my hand onto Arach's tense leg beside me. “So were you their creator?”
“They were born of the Void, for which I am the consciousness of,” he shrugged. “So, yes, in a way, I am their creator but I believe source would be a better word. The birth of a race is not necessarily creation.”
“How so?” I blinked.
“Creation implies thought, planning,” he shrugged. “The Void wasn't planned and neither were the races who emerged from it. So it was birth not creation.”
“And humans were born of the Void as well?” I realized that he had the answers to questions humanity had pondered for ages. Maybe I should stop being such a wuss and make use of the opportunity presented.
“Yes, humans came from the Void but they were second born,” his eyes sparked and I inhaled sharply. “Born without the magic of the Atlanteans.”
“Until they started mixing with the fey,” I whispered.
“Now you're getting ahead of yourself,” he chided. “Or me rather. Allow me to tell my story.”
“Oh, sorry,” I grimaced.
“The Atlanteans worshiped me and brought me forth into form,” he began. “The consciousness of the Void condensed and I was born. I suspect your Faerie consciousness was born in much a similar fashion.”
Yeah, yeah, get on with it.
“I am trying, my dear,” he laughed. “The Atlanteans had no interest in the rest of the world but I did. I explored it and filled it with the second-born, the humans. They worshiped me as well, though they did it in primitive ways that provided no energy for me. Not that I required it, I am the source of their lifeforce, I have no need of any more. I loved them simply for what they were; beautiful creatures of thought and emotion. In some ways, they were more of a triumph than the first-born, for they had to survive without magic.”
“So you're connected to the Human Realm and the God Realm but how do you inhabit the Aether?” I cocked my head at him.
“The fey joined our realms with the Aether,” he shrugged. “It was akin to an invitation. Just as the first-born, I can travel it freely.”
“Oh, right,” I was trying my best to process it all.
“But again, you get ahead of me,” he tsked. “The Atlanteans destroyed their home with magic and technology. I tried to warn them but by that time, they had ceased to believe in me and they couldn't hear me anymore. Or maybe they just refused to listen. Whatever the case, Atlantis paid the price for their hubris and sank beneath the waves. I mourned as I watched it die, watched them die, and I tried to comfort the survivors as they gathered on that dismal shore,” he stopped and swallowed hard before continuing. “But like I said, they didn't hear me. They rallied themselves though, and spread out over the world to live among the humans. You know all of this already, how they deceived the humans into believing they were gods and then used the human energy to truly become gods.”
“Yes, I've heard a little about it,” I tried for sarcasm but it just sounded strained.
“And now you've met Aradia,” he swept a hand down her body. “When she was born, I realized that something I'd thought to be impossible, was very possible indeed.”
“Which was?” Arach pressed.
“A god soul could inhabit the same body as a fey elemental essence,” his voice rang through the room and silenced us all.
“I've never thought about it like that,” I finally whispered. “It's like having two souls.”
“It very much is having two souls,” he grinned. “No like about it. It shouldn't have been possible. Gods and humans, yes, they're from the same source and so they blend very well, but gods and fey? Never. Two sources meant two very different essences. Two souls shouldn't be able to inhabit one body, which should have made breeding an impossibility, and yet here she is. Aradia's birth was much more important than anyone ever realized. She wasn't either or, she was both, all at once. Fey magic and god magic can work together but their essences will never mix. She has two separate souls inside her, from two different sources, and yet, they are both entirely her.”
“Wait...” something was starting to percolate in my head.
“Yes, I see that you're beginning to understand now,” he grinned,“but let me finish and then you will know everything.”
“Yeah, okay,” I agreed.
“After withdrawing from several generations of Atlanteans before her, I'd finally found a reason to reconnect with my children,” his expression softened. “I decided to try and speak to Aradia and another miracle happened... she heard me. She heard me and she listened. I told her who I was, who she was, and what we could accomplish together.”
“And what were you trying to accomplish?” Arach narrowed his eyes on Aradia/Alaric.
“Unity,” he spread her hands out. “Peace between all races. Like a marriage between two opposing families, she could be a bridge. A link forged between two chains. Also, the humans had started bearing witches, children of the fey. As beings without magic, their souls joined more easily with fey essences and children were born much more often than with god-fey pairings. I saw an opportunity there so I sent Aradia out among the fey-human children, to teach them how to use magic properly.”
“The Goddess of the Witches,” I nodded.
“Yes, she was well loved,” he smiled fondly. “Generations of witches owe their power to her, to her guidance.”
“Wonderful,” I nodded, “but where do I fit in?”
“When did you get so impatient, Sabine?” He laughed. “Sorry, I mean, Vervain. Don't you want to hear the whole story?”
“Yes, I really do,” I sighed and settled back into my seat. “Please, go on.”
“Very well then,” he smiled fondly again but this time it was directed at me. “Your mother laid a spell upon you to mask your feyness under a guise of humanity but e
ven though your body became human and lived a human lifespan, your essence was never human.”
A chill went over my skin as that niggling thought finally surfaced. Where did my soul come from? The one that Azrael saved? He couldn't have put a fey essence into the Well of Souls.
“So when I heard Odin wailing on your deathbed,” Alaric continued, “begging the Angel of Death to take your soul to Hvergelmir, I saw another opportunity.”
“You gave me a soul,” I whispered as my body started to shake.
“I placed the magic of one of the first born inside you,” he nodded. “I didn't just give you a soul, I helped you to create one. The soul of a goddess.”
“But...” I couldn't even form the words. “But I only had human magic until I took Aphrodite's power.”
“Did you?” He lifted a brow. “Having magic is not the same as having a defined power. You can be a goddess and not have a specific power. Perhaps it would make more sense to you if I called it an Atlantean soul.”
“Oh,” I blinked rapidly, my brain reeling under the revelation. “Of course. They didn't have their god magic until humans made them into gods.”
“Precisely but let's get back to Sabine,” he chuckled. “I knew that once your body died, your fey essence would return to the source of the fey. There would be nothing for Azrael to take to Hvergelmir. Even if he could grip your essence by some chance, the Well of Souls could never hold you.”
“How did my fey essence survive?”
“It bonded to your new soul,” he shrugged. “Energy longs for life. It wants to be born, to be made anew. When I helped you become a goddess, your fey essence accepted it eagerly, and I knew then, that you were meant to bring about great change.”
“Change,” I gave a bitter laugh. “Yeah, that's my life alright.”
“Vervain, you're very special,” he said seriously. “I knew that Odin intended to bring you back, even before he did, and I guided him. I've guided all of you, all along, because I knew how important you'd be to everyone; fey, human, and god alike.”
“Why am I important?” I frowned at him.
“You're a bigger bridge than Aradia ever was. Look at all you've accomplished already. You've made a huge difference in the lives of humans, gods, and the fey. You've even assisted in my admittance to the Faerie Realm. I've always wanted to see Faerie,” he beamed like a child. “We've been touching for so long, she's even ventured into my realms before, but I've never attempted to enter hers because I knew how nervous she could be. Do you think Faerie would have accepted me without you?”
